Franko Simatovic, the Yugoslav paramilitary leader whose secretive Serbian unit is accused of committing some of the worst atrocities in the Balkans in the 1990's, pleaded not guilty to charges of murder and ''ethnic cleansing'' at the war crimes tribunal in The Hague. Mr. Simatovic, an ethnic Croat, is accused of forming a ''criminal enterprise'' to evict non-Serbs from parts of Croatia and Bosnia. Mr. Simatovic's unit was the core of the Serbian police's special operations unit whose senior officers are accused of killing the Serbian prime minister, Zoran Djindjic, in March. Peter S. Green (NYT)

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A version of this article appears in print on June 3, 2003, on Page A00011 of the National edition with the headline: World Briefing | Europe: The Hague: Ex-Paramilitary Leader Pleads Not Guilty. Order Reprints|Today's Paper|Subscribe